Sm1nts2escape

iTrader: (4)

Im going 99 spec but I want to go plateless as well. How well does he pettit plateless fit? I don't mind cutting hacking and filling in the bumper but will any problems arise later down the road? Thanks

BryanDowns

iTrader: (2)

I wouldnt bother with filling personally. Here is my platless Raceon USA.

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...t=99+plateless

Nearly 3 years later and it looks just as good as it did the day I took those pictures.

Sm1nts2escape

iTrader: (4)

Thanks bryan. Anybody that has filled in an oem 99 please chime in.

Black Magic

iTrader: (2)

I had to do a lot of bodywork to make my pettit one look like it was sheet metal smooth. Fitment was good, had to trim around the headlights, but in pettit's defense, i do have RE sleaks and they may have caused that issue. Otherwise, the smooth part of the bumper that spans between the signals and headlights from left to right was wavy and required filling with the big block sander.

Sm1nts2escape

iTrader: (4)

That's what Ive read about all the urethane copies. That and the gap isn't right around the passenger headlight. Which is why I'm prolly going to spend the extra cash to get an oem and fill it in.

BryanDowns

iTrader: (2)

Mine is urethane in the link above. You can get it to fit just fine. I bet its less work to do that than to shave and fill an OEM one.

Sm1nts2escape

iTrader: (4)

I think I might just go with the raceon bumper after all. It's cheaper and I don't have to worry about the center section that I fill in coming undone while traveling speeds around 180mph lol. It looks like they call it the spec r now.

Montego

iTrader: (1)

Brian you seem to be the exception to the norm. I had a custom body shop install mine and though it fits well (yet not like stock) they actually fought with it a little bit.

BryanDowns

iTrader: (2)

I probably just spent more time/care on mine than body shops generally do? As with everything in life it seems, if you personally do something you tend to take more time and care with it than others would. At least that's my .02. I've no doubt someone else can duplicate my effort... its just a matter of if they want to or not. If I worked at a body shop I'd probably focus on higher paying/quicker jobs myself.

Also note that I said "you can get it to fit" not "It fits just fine".

Montego

iTrader: (1)

I don't know why your fits so good. Maybe you did spend more time, or your bumper was a better fit, or you are just better at it, or a it was a combination all three scenarios. In any case the mass concensus is that its not that great of a fit and that they do take a bit of work. And that is something to take stock on.

K_style

iTrader: (3)

I just went to raceonusa.com but they didn't have 99 spec bumper...

Sm1nts2escape

iTrader: (4)

They still have it check my post above. I got mine in the mail a week ago. This thing needs mad work to fit right. Biggest problem is that the bottom lip is rolled up and will either have to be heated and twisted back down or build a brace of some kind to keep it down. Really better off buying the oem 99 and hot welding it. I might end up selling mine and going that route...

BryanDowns

iTrader: (2)

Do you have pics of that? Seems strange that quality would vary so wildly from one bumper to another? Have you tried mounting it on the car yet? I seem to remember the bottom lip in the mouth opening doing strange things, but once you mounted the 99 lip on it the problem went away. (and who doesnt use a 99 lip right? )

LS1rob

Good info I've been trying to decide which route I'll be going as well

Sm1nts2escape

iTrader: (4)

I'll take a couple pics later on today. I don't think the quality varies greatly from one bumper to another. Look at all the post about crappy fitting aftermarket 99 specs :/ The lip spoiler isn't mounted on but the lip shouldn't curl up on its own like that... You are using a spoiler as a brace. Another thing to consider when buying a oem vs cheap aftermarket. Like the oem should come with the aluminum bracing mounted. Where if you want that bracing on your aftermarket you have to steal it from your own stock bumper etc. If you are wish wash on the plate vs plateless go with the oem. If you want a perfect fitting bumper go with the oem. If you want to save as much cash as possible and don't mind a little gap or what not here and there go with the aftermarket. I tried to be cheap and now Im prolly going to end up buying an oem. I might even steal the center section from the aftermarket and weld it to an oem.

BryanDowns

iTrader: (2)

Not entirely true. The aftermarket bumper ended up costing me about the same as getting an OEM after shipping it across the country. I certainly didnt get the aftermarket to save money, I did it to keep from having the front plate wart on my car

I did steal the metal bracket off of my oem bumper. I think I mentioned that on here a couple of times in my various thread responses. Once the bumper is stretched and mounted on your car with the front spoiler this warping spot on the bottom isnt that big a deal. Mine has looked fine for years now being "braced" by the lip spoiler.

I thought I made it relatively clear that this bumper required a good bit of work to fit right? You seem to be upset that it didnt fit perfect right out of the box? If you wanted to bolt it right on and it just fit perfectly then yes - you should have bought OEM. Though its not as if the OEM wouldnt have required work in your case since you wanted to shave it and fill in a spot.

If you decide to install it make sure you DO NOT DRILL HOLES WHERE THE SPOTS INDICATE. You must fit the bumper and then drill the holes where you need them for fitment. If I can make it fit great I'm sure you can. This was my first ever attempt at bodywork besides just bolting a bumper or fender on/off.

Montego

iTrader: (1)

I haven't kept up with the latest complaints but back in the day it was maily that it didn't fit like a glove and there was some massaging in order to get to fit right. But no one ever said that the fitment outright sucked.



my bumper:




FYI- the gap between the bumper and the hood is caused by the hood.


Just want to clear something up: The bumper you received should not go for as cheap as you got it. There was a bunch of drama back in the day where the company that made the mold for rotary extreme (who footed the bill BTW) turned around and started making it for others who never paid a dime. And since they didn't have to recoup costs they could sell them for very little money.

My bumper was from the very first batch that came from Rotary Extreme, in fact part of my original down payment went towards the making of the original mold. As I said earlier my mine fits pretty good, albeit not as good a Bryan's. If yours is that bad it may be a copy of a copy.

BryanDowns

iTrader: (2)

I got mine from RaceOn a couple of years ago. I cant imagine someone went through the trouble to make another mold for a poly bumper for such a limited market.

btw, I had the same hood fitment gap. The way I fixed it was to push the top back a little bit, and to make sure to put bolts into the top part of the "mouth" while pulling up on the bumper. If you didnt put bolts into the upper part of the bumper (there are holes there that the oem bumper uses) just go out and pull up on your bumper and see if the gap shrinks significantly. Also, when you push the bumper back slightly (holes you see when you pop your hood on your bumper) you'll notice that the headlight covers will hit the bumper. I used a half circle file to file the bumper to fit the head light covers in those spots.

That all sounds like alot of work, but... dont forget that shaving the OEM bumper and filling and sanding/etc isnt also work.

Sm1nts2escape

iTrader: (4)

Shaving and filling the oem is way easier than fitting this crap. That's all I'm saying.